TallGuyJohninBKK

The only COVID cases counted and reported by the Thai government since last fall are those that result in hospitalizations. Anything less than that for COVID isn't being publicly reported here. The Chula professor in the OP was estimating the likely number of real COVID infections here, predicting 2,800 to 3,900 per day, based on the fewer COVID hospitalization numbers the government does report.

And the Cochrane report you cite -- which is merely a recap of various prior studies, including ones that predated COVID, and not itself any original research -- isn't all it's cracked up to be by anti-maskers... Per a commentary on it by Johns Hopkins: "the review emphasized that the findings could be due in part to multiple factors such as poor study design, low adherence to mask rules, quality of masks used, and incorrect mask usage. Notably, several individual studies have shown an association between community mask use and a reduction in COVID-19 cases. ... Results of the review have split infectious disease experts, leading some to critique its methodologies and emphasize the importance of public messaging on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to prevent disease transmission." Source link

I gave you a like for your above comments... even though the forum's new anonymous system for emoticons doesn't allow you to know I did! ????

In general, any fresh, properly warn face mask is going to be better than wearing none, in terms of reducing virus risk both to the wearer and others... But obviously, N95 masks are the best available to the general public. I import mine from the U.S.

It's also worth noting here that, unfortunately, COVID vaccines for now are not a one or twice and done thing.... Because of the nature of the virus, being both respiratory and constantly mutating, for vaccinations to remain the most effective, people right now are advised to continue getting boosters every 4-6 months or so.... And if you look at the U.S. as an example, the rate of people who have received the newer bivalent vaccines thus far is only about 15% of the overall population (which is paltry!), even though those vaccines have been free and available there for months. That's "moving on" in the wrong way. "About 52.5 million people, or 15.8% of the U.S. population, have received an updated booster dose." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

No one is trying to keep the world, or Thailand, "under lock and key." There are no longer any such enforced lockdown measures here, as you well know. And hardly any restrictions on inbound travel. But, getting vaccinated, wearing a face mask when appropriate, and trying to keep in general good health all improve people's odds against bad COVID outcomes. Usually, the people who post on here saying "move on" are those who want to disregard all the things that would otherwise protect people from getting sick.

The U.S. is still reporting about 450 new COVID deaths per day, along with more than 3,600 new COVID hospitalizations per day... https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html The WHO reported more than 90,000 COVID deaths worldwide in the past month. "Globally, nearly 10.5 million new cases and over 90 000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days (9 January to 5 February 2023), a decrease of 89% and 8%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days. As of 5 February 2023, over 754 million confirmed cases and over 6.8 million deaths have been reported globally." https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---8-february-2023 I guess dying of COVID is one way of "moving on"...

There is no more "mask mandate" in Thailand. But people who want to reduce their risk of catching COVID and potential illness from it do tend to follow the suggestions for the general public from the WHO and CDC, among others, to wear good quality face masks in indoor areas when close around other people.

****Deleted Post Edited out*** You have no credible source for what you're claiming re excess deaths, and posted nothing to support your claim. Specifically, there's no credible evidence that COVID vaccines contribute to any meaningful number of excess deaths around the world. COVID, on the other hand, clearly does. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The CDC did just that kind of legitimate comparison recently using real world health outcomes among vaccinated vs unvaccinated folks. And I posted the result above: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm

Yes significantly. The way you present the numbers above is misleading... To do a meaningful comparison, you have to compare the SHARE of unvaccinated people who are dying vs.the SHARE of vaccinated people who are dying -- not their overall shares in the general population. As the report you linked to above explains: 'There are many more vaccinated people than there are unvaccinated people, and vaccinated and boosted people are, on average, older and more likely to have underlying health conditions that put them at risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes. That’s why, when CDC adjusts for some of these factors (age and population size), we still see that unvaccinated people are at much greater risk of death and other severe outcomes than people the same age who have stayed up-to-date on boosters. Older people are at greater risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19 than younger people, but vaccines and boosters still lower that risk substantially." As the Kaiser Foundation article above correctly also notes... if 100% of the U.S. population were vaccinated, then 100% of the COVID deaths would be among the vaccinated. But that's missing the point and meaningful comparison.

The latest real-world tracking info from the U.S. CDC comparing health outcomes for non-vaccinated people vs. vaccinated people (and especially those with the latest bivalent vaccines) say otherwise. (When the CDC in the graphic below refers to the "updated" COVID vaccine, they're referring to the new "bivalent" versions, which thus far aren't available in Thailand, but are available in the U.S. and elsewhere.) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm What is added by this report? "Bivalent booster recipients in 24 U.S. jurisdictions had slightly higher protection against infection and significantly higher protection against death than was observed for monovalent booster recipients or unvaccinated persons, especially among older adults. What are the implications for public health practice? Bivalent COVID-19 booster doses protected against infection and death during BA.4/BA.5 circulation. All eligible persons should get 1 bivalent booster dose ≥2 months after their COVID-19 primary series or last monovalent booster dose."

Here's the trend of the Government's weekly COVID hospitalizations and deaths reports for the past month, starting with the oldest from mid-January. Again, they're only reporting COVID hospitalizations, not non-hospitalized cases. There was a dip in hospitalizations two weeks ago, but the latest hospitalization numbers are actually below those of the last half of January. And reported COVID deaths have declined in each of the past four weekly reports. The numbers in the large red blocks below are weekly COVID hospitalizations. The numbers in the large grey blocks below are government reported weekly COVID deaths. The smaller red and gray section numbers at the bottom of each graphic are the cumulative COVID hospitalization and death counts for Thailand since the start of the calendar year 2023. PS - I don't believe there is any consistently reported EN version of these graphics from the Ministry of Public Health. So the TH versions are the only ones we have to go with. Weekly COVID hospitalizations and COVID deaths reported by Thailand: Jan. 15-21 Jan 22-28 Jan 29 to Feb. 4 Feb. 5 - 11 https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos

AFAIK, the Chula prof is "estimating" the likely number of daily regular COVID "cases" based on the weekly COVID hospitalization numbers (that the government calls "cases") reported by the government. Since last Oct., the government's weekly reports only count COVID cases when someone has actually been hospitalized with COVID. Regular non-hospitialized COVID cases are not counted or publicly reported here anymore... But needless to say, the count of people hospitalized with COVID is surely a small share of the actual numbers of people with COVID infections. The prof seems to be using an estimated daily number of about 2800 to 3900 regular cases, which would translate into almost 20,000 to 27,000 regular cases/infections per week. The EN translation of what he actually posted in Thai regarding Thailand is as follows: "For Thailand, the numbers from the weekly report 5-11 February 2023 have 392 hospital admissions and 12 deaths. ...It is estimated that the number of new infections is approximately 2,800-3,889 per day." https://www.facebook.com/thiraw/posts/pfbid0TqLxLEfjjRAFmkhiLjgHex7LwfeiHQgdWhYv9AsesoXahiYswqyxRQ34MocvKt4gl

I had a special variety that weren't really available here.

I had a pair of new contact lenses remailed (not sent directly from the source) from the U.S. to Thailand a couple years back, and they arrived fine... But that was using regular international airmail enroute to Thai Post for final delivery. So I don't recall even having to do a customs declaration for the envelope, since the item inside (contact lens case) was so small. I'm not sure I would have had the same result if my item had been going thru the more officious private couriers like DHL and FedEx.

Yep, it's hard to tell or know why some card users run into the "we think you don't live in the U.S." problems, and others can continue using their cards here just fine.

In my experience, the refusals of counter withdrawals by Thai bank branches generally have been specific to individual branches -- and not some kind of bank-wide policy against them. I've heard all kinds of excuses from different branches of different Thai bank companies of why they can't or won't do them. But in general, it's often seemed to be one of two things... either... a. they simply want you to use their ATMs instead, either because it's less work and hassle for them and/or they're aware that it means more fee income for the bank, and/or b. doing the counter withdrawal transaction often involved them running your card thru one of those portable card reading machines, and then entering the correct commands to successfully accomplish the transaction. In my experience, some tellers simply don't know how to execute it correctly, and they end up getting error messages on their machines. The counter withdrawal transaction involving a foreign bank debit card is not something most Thai bank branch tellers typically would have a lot of experience doing... And the workplace education levels here, as is well-known, leave a lot to be desired.... Have you tried any other BKK Bank branches before assuming it's some kind of bank-wide policy?

In answer to the OP's main question, I don't think there is ANY Thai ATM you can use anymore with a foreign ATM/debit card (VISA or MC) that won't charge a flat amount withdrawal fee, generally 220b except for AEON's lesser fee with a lower withdrawal limit. About the best you can do with Thai bank ATM withdrawals using a foreign card is to have a home country bank/card that reimburses you for other banks' ATM fees, and in the case here, that needs to include international ones, not just domestic ATM fees in the country where your bank card was issued. Charles Schwab Bank U.S. is one of those, and their ATM fee reimbursements technically are unlimited. But I have several worldwide ATM fee reimbursing accounts from the U.S., which are relatively rare in general, and most typically have a monthly limit of say $12 to $15 in ATM fees. With Schwab, I say their fee reimbursements technically are unlimited, because, another member here recently got a message from Schwab Bank threatening to close his accounts because he had international activity that suggested to Schwab he might not be a resident of the U.S. as required... See the following thread: For reasons such as those variously cited in the above thread, I generally try to do my foreign ATM / debit card withdrawals from smaller home country BANK accounts that are different and separate from the brokerage accounts where I keep my retirement savings and investments. In short, I try to avoid foreign country transactions as much as possible in my main brokerage accounts. I know the Schwab ATM fee reimbursements are a nice perk, but the potential downsides/hassles like member @IAMHERE encountered makes me want to avoid the potential risk, especially since I have other available options.

Other than the location of your IP address, which can be changed with a VPN of course, the other indicator I believe some financial institutions may look at is the Time Zone listed on the device being used to log into their systems. Your IP may be changed by a VPN. But most VPN connections don't automatically change your device's time zone setting to match the VPN location. Of course, the user can change their time zone setting themselves, and then later reset it accordingly. I've never done that for existing accounts where I'm already established. But these days, if I'm applying online for a new account and want to avoid any potential hangups, I'll do the manual time zone adjustment myself on my PC while doing the online application process.

We're talking here about what's generally called a "counter withdrawal" -- where you use your VISA or MC debit card with the bank's counter/teller instead of the ATM. The Thai banks generally SHOULD allow those, but it tends to be hit an miss in reality. Some staff will refuse and instead tell you to use their ATMs... The best you can do is try branch to branch. The Thai banks generally should not impose any flat rate or percentage fee for that kind of transaction... but I think one or two did begin charging fees for that... including SCB, I think. It's kind of like a cash advance using a credit card. Except, because it's a DEBIT card and it's already your own money in your checking account, your card's bank isn't going to charge any advance fees... However, if the card you're using charges any foreign currency conversion fees, like many do, those would still apply to a counter withdrawal transaction --the same as they would for an ATM withdrawal or POS purchase. What the counter withdrawal avoids is the 220b per withdrawal ATM fee that Thai ATMs charge against foreign cards.

That above is the only time I'll be exercising my newly restored emoticon expressions.... ????

The return of those "negative" emoticons, along with the protection/cover of providing anonymity, is an invitation to increased trolling.

Yes it was... and that's what let to it being removed... until now.

Trolling is the SAME person repeatedly targeting another member. It's NOT trolling if five different members each post a single laughing or confused emoticon on a particular member's various posts. Now, though, apparently, the targeted member has no way of knowing which kind of conduct is occurring.